Health & Fitness: The Road to 40 (Final Week)

Well, it’s only a couple of days until I reach that big Four-Oh.

December was a disaster in the fitness category. Not only did I have the whole emergency room crap from November carry over into physically not feeling well at all in December (I still think I severely pulled several core muscles), but I also was rather weak in resisting the sugar and fat that the holidays bring in the way of food (desert specifically).

January faired a little better but I still fell way short of the mark. This brings us the February. Yep, no more time left on the Road to 40. I am definitely in much better shape than when I started several years back. However, I’d have to say I was at my peak physically in November and have gone down hill just a little since then. It's too bad that I did not obtain the six-pack I want but there is still time in life I guess. Besides, if my body was perfect now, where would I go from here?

My goal for this year (the big Four-Oh) is to get back into five days at the gym every week. On top of that, a six-pack by summertime would be cool. We’ll just have to wait and see now won’t we.

One of these days, I’ll put up “before” and “after” pictures to show how far I actually have gone.

Saturday Night 'Fun'

It seems like it's always something these days to keep me from the gym. First I got that little bitch of a bug that was going around. Usually I can win the fight in a day or so but this time, the bastard hung on and it took two weeks to get rid of it; all the while, no workouts. I finally kicked it to the curb and was trying to get back into the whole gym thing and then bam, this weekend threw me a major curveball.

Saturday night around 10 pm, I started to have abdominal pain. This has happened on and off for over a year now but I assumed it was just bloating since it'd go away after no more than an hour. Unfortunately, this night was different. The pain continued to get worse to the point that I figured I'd best get the professionals to look into it.

I got in my car (yeah, I know, shouldn't have driven myself) and went to the emergency room at the University of Washington Medical Center. Well, that was my second mistake of the night. It turns out that they are rather busy the night of a football game so there was no room at the inn. I checked in and spent the next two hours in the waiting area moaning in pain.

I couldn't sit for any length of time nor could I stand because the pain would hit me hard in any one position. At one point, I was crouched on the floor rocking back and forth moaning when some guy who was also waiting walked by and asked, "Are you alright dude?" Hahaha, am I alright? Of course you idget! I just love to go down to the local emergency room and moan my heart out for two hours straight just for fun! Am I alright! The only thing I could muster was an icy stare.

The problem I have with pain isn't so much the pain itself, it's the needed self control. I'm like a wounded animal. The best anyone who doesn't have some pretty potent pain killers can do is just stay out of biting range; and lord knows, I'll bite.

As time ticked away, the pain got worse and I was the only one there making a scene. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit quietly waiting for my turn so I was standing, crouching, and pacing by the entrance a little away from the actual seating area. However, I'm sure they could all hear me from there.

No one else appeared to be in pain yet I got to "politely" wait my turn. After each person’s name was called (none of whom looked to be in any pain mind you), I let out a little moan of defeat. Tick, tock, tock and tick, time slowly moved forward until there was just me and the guy who came in after me left in the waiting area.

They finally called my name after two hours of waiting. True to form, they show me to a room, gave me that little hospital gown to change into, and left.......... for another (what seemed like) ten minutes. When they did come back, they start to actually realize that I was in pain so they gave me Morphine which did absolutely nothing to help. It took them another five minutes to figure that out at which point they brought out the good stuff and solved the whole pain thing in one injection. A little side effect with this stuff was that I got real dizzy (combine that with the fact that it was now almost 2 am).

Over the next couple of hours, they took x-rays of my chest and abdomen, shot me up twice more with that pain killer (it kept wearing off), and took a CAT scan of my abdomen. Their conclusion, it’s a good chance I have an ulcer. I was released around 6 am and drove home (the third mistake of the night). I was so tired and groggy from the drugs and being up all night that I'm surprised they even left me drive. And yes, they had asked earlier how I was getting home; out of sight out of mind I guess.

Well, I made it in one piece and slept the rest of Sunday. I tried to go into work on Monday but only survived one hour before I went home sick since I had left the pain killers they prescribed to me at home. I saw my regular doctor on Tuesday and didn't even bother going into work. The doctor took some blood to test for the ulcer and will let me know. In the mean time, I get to pop a damn pill every day for 3 months now. And here I thought I was doing so well on the whole health thing. Bah!

So Wednesday I went back to work but found it hard to concentrate since my lower back, butt, and legs were hurting something fierce (probably strained them by overcompensating for the abdominal pain). And this brings us to today; feeling much better now, thank you. Even the muscles are starting to play nicely now (though, they still hurt). Hopefully this will all be history come next week so I can get my fat ass back to the gym.

Update (2008.11.21): I got the blood results back and everything was normal so no ulcer. That's good news but annoying because I still don't know what caused the pain intense enough to send me to the emergency room.

Update (2008.11.25): I just love the medical industry; it's like trying to pull teeth to get any information out of them. I was finally able to talk with my doctor's assistant today. She was the liaison between me and the doctor (guess my doctor had her ‘people’ call my ‘people’, problem is, I have no ‘people’). After two separate phone conversations, it turns out that even though the blood work was normal, it’s still a good chance I do have an ulcer. Combine that with the acid reflex issues I’ve had for many years and, according to the doc, that would be what caused the intense pain. I’m skeptical though.

Wake Up!

Wow, I don't know if it's because I had a busy weekend, the change in weather, or if I'm fighting a bug. I have had little energy the last couple of days. This all came to a head this morning when I overslept (I don't even remember turning off my alarm clock); so much for working out today. Unfortunately, tomorrow I will be on the road again so no workout there as well.

While my weight is pretty consistent at around 194 lbs these days, my body fat is still on the higher side (for my taste). I had hoped to have it down by 5% by the time this coming trip happened but instead, it's only down by about 3%; so much for those washboards.

Oh well, I still have a little over 6 months left in order to rectify that problem. I have half a mind to start bodybuilding for a competition; standing in front of a crowd in just a little posing trunk would be a great motivator (oh, the embarrassment).

Exit 38 - Gritscone

Fantastic! Cool! Unreal!

These are just a couple of words to express my experience last night. As mentioned earlier, a couple of us from the climbing class went up Snoqualmie to do some outdoor climbing.

One of the guys has been climbing for a year now and is really into it. He is in the Reserves and is up from Oregon doing his duty at McChord. Anyway, he took us up to Gritscone off Exit 38. This is a pretty easy rock but one has to start someplace.

One of my concerns was that my grip would not hold out but much to my surprise, my hands hardened to the task pretty quickly. That's not to say that I'm not feeling aches and pains today. Actually, my forearms are quite beside themselves at the moment.

The only downside to all of this is that I had to cut my workout down a bit today. Chest and arms were on the schedule but my forearms had a different plan. Ouch! Tomorrow will be no better since shoulders and back are on the schedule; more use of those forearms. I’ll just lower the weight like I did today and see where it goes.

I still have a hard time believing that I have come so far in a short amount of time. Usually when I pick up a new sport or hobby, it takes awhile to get up to speed. This time I attended two climbing classes, met new friends, and the got some real world experience in the mountains all within a week and one day. How unreal is that?

Climbing 201

Well, the second climbing class at REI is finished. This was an extremely fun experience though I am definitely sore today. The 201 class covered climbing techniques so we didn’t belay, we just bouldered. Belaying is when you climb up the face while tied in to a belayer; bouldering is when you climb sideways without gaining much height and not being tied in. Bouldering allows you to practice moves in such a way that you don’t have to worry about falling very far.

I have to say that this was a nice workout; I used muscles that are not generally hit in the gym. However, I was glad that I had been working out because the extra strength definitely paid off. My weak point is my grip; I can barely type this post on my keyboard right now.

Of all the things we worked on, I’d say my favorite was the Hip Roll. This is where you use your body in such a way (by rotating your hip) to make climbing through overhangs easier. It takes a little to get used to having your body parallel to the ground while hanging off an overhang with nothing but air beneath you. My grip was the first to give out so I only made it to the first hold on the vertical face past the overhang… besides, the footing on that transition was tricky… oh, and considering the fact that this was the first time I tried it, I think I did quite well.

So, where do I go from here? First off, by attending the classes, they gave us a coupon (one per class) for a free climb on the Pinnacle. I’ll definitely redeem those in the coming weeks. Also, a couple of us from the class are heading up Snoqualmie Pass this afternoon to do some outdoor climbing on real rocks (one of the guys has the equipment). I hope I can get a little strength back in my grip before we get there though.

Next order of business is to get some climbing shoes. Damn, there’s those shoes again; what is it with me and shoes!!!!

Climbing Up in The World

I think I have a new interest! No, not that kind; I’m still single. This one is rock climbing. Ever since REI’s flagship store was built in Seattle, their climbing Pinnacle has intrigued me. Friends who were interested as well have come and gone yet no one ever actually followed through with their promise that “we should go try it out.”

Well, enough on waiting for someone to do it with. I ventured out on my own and registered for the beginners class they offer; Climbing 101. This was Monday. What a fun activity. We learned how to tie the required knots, belaying, and other procedures as well.

Belaying is rather hard on the neck but pretty fun in and of itself. We paired off into groups of two and then one would climb while the other would belay. To give us “practice” and a feel for all aspects of belaying, the instructors had the climber intentionally fall so that the belayer could catch them. It was rather fun jumping without warning out into space halfway up the Pinnacle.

I was curious whether I’d have a problem with the height but I didn’t. While out on a mountain, I have no problem walking right up to the edge of a cliff and sitting down with my feet dangling over. However, when in the city, I would never be able to do that in a high rise… even floor to ceiling windows give me fits sometimes; very strange.

The next class is this coming Monday and will be Climbing 201. This will work on technique. I’m looking forward to it.

Imelda, Green Lake's Queen of Shoes

Believe it or not, I actually got off my lazy ass and ran Green Lake both Saturday and Sunday. Admittedly, it was a difficult task to start both days but the bottom line is that I actually did it. There was one snag though, but it didn’t rear its ugly head until Sunday.

Saturday went quite well actually. It was sunny and warm enough to run just with shorts and a T-shirt (No, I’m in no shape to be running with my shirt off; too much Jell-O underneath still. Women would be screaming, children would be crying, and the guys would just plain laugh). Anyway, like I said, the sun was out so I got to wear my cool prescription sun glasses… and yes, I’m blind as a bat without my glasses.

The run went well and I finished it with a sprint to the end. Lukily, I got there just in time to go past a guy on a road bike. Nice looking chap with red and white biking shorts on; yum. Of course I didn’t turn and look [cruise] as I went by since I’m still somewhat of a closet case when it comes to public places other than Capitol Hill.

So, Sunday comes along without the sun. “Fine,” I say, “but you’re still doing the run!” Since the sun was not out, I didn’t wear the sun glasses and I hate exercising with my regular glasses on so I figured that I’d just do the run without eyewear at all. I looked rather funny trying to get my voice high enough for use in echolocation. Only an eighth of the way into the run was when I noticed that the Extensor Digitorum Longus Tendons* (shown here circled in blue) in my left foot were hurting. I managed to finish the run but still, the foot hurt. On top of that, I couldn’t see if there was any nice eye candy to view either.

Today I was doing some cardio at the gym and once again, my foot was killing me. I figure that my shoes are probably not the best for running so I think I need to buy yet another pair. I’m beginning to feel like Imelda Marcos.

*No, I'm not that smart. I looked up the tendons online.

Fucked Up!

Here we are again! Frankly I’m starting to get a little pissed off about the whole thing. The weather is starting to turn around; hey, they are even predicting 71° tomorrow (that’s Fahrenheit not Celsius), I’m getting damn close to five days at the gym again, I even have a cool new Fossil watch to wear out and about, but what does this cheep knock off of a brain that rents out the space between my ears do? get down and depressed. BASTARD! KNOCK IT OFF!

It seems that the cycles are getting shorter and shorter where not a week goes by without feeling melancholy now. Summer is just around the corner and I cannot afford to get sick (depressed) again.

I was thinking of a way I could use this to my advantage. Normally, when I get down, I just sit at home and turn inwards… maybe I should “punish” myself with a long run every time I get down. At that rate, I’d be running almost everyday.

Unfortunately, the fitness issues are not the root cause and taking care of them is just treating the symptoms and not the disease. I still have not figured out what the disease is though.

Early Morning Success

Enough of this kicking myself when I'm down; it's time to point out a bright spot in an otherwise gray bit of posts.

Friday, I had a conference call that started at 7:30 in the morning. Normally, I am on the bus heading to the gym at that time, still over an hour away from actually going to work. Well, determination won out and I made it to the gym at 6:15. I bet you noticed that the universe came to a complete halt on Friday. That's because the universe was totally in awe at my early morning waking and couldn’t stop staring. *grin*

See, not everything is bad, I just find it easier to bitch about the bad stuff than compliment myself on the good (yes, I was raised religious; original sin and all that guilt).

Talk Is Way Too Cheap

All that talk about the weeks conspiring to keep me from the gym and what do I do? Sleep in this morning. Bah! I think my momentum is definitely slowing way down.

It's been a relatively good past 6 months but now I'm not seeing any changes. I appear to have plateaued in recent weeks. In fact, to me, it seems that old Michelin around my waist is actually getting larger; so much for a six pack. All this is combines to suck the enthusiasm out of the whole exercise thing and threatens to usher in an onslaught of depression.

Not to be left out, I discovered my brain has concocted an additional lovely disorder designed to compliment the plateau. It seems that guys I’m interesting in don’t even see me; they are looking at the other guy. Where’s my cross?

Yup, you read right. Somehow, in my twisted screwed up brain, I think that just because I’ve gone from 220 lbs down to 200 lbs and increased the size of my biceps, guys should immediately be falling all over themselves asking me out on dates.

I think it’s time to go look into electroshock therapy.

Silly Rat, Crunches Are For Abdominals

It seems that every week conspires to keep me at only four days in the gym. This week was no different.

It all started last Friday when I was working legs at the gym. I pulled some weight off the rack and start to do straight leg deadlifts since these offer a great stretched position for the hamstrings... well, on my second rep, I noticed my form was all wrong and I was actually curling my back on the lift (think the part of an abdominal crunch where you lower your neck and shoulder blades back to the floor again; only standing). OK, fine, I noted it and continued with the determination to fix the bad form on the next rep. You'd think I'd listen to myself after all this time, but "no," what do I do but repeat the same bad form.

I knew it didn't bode well for me. Sure enough, Saturday, my back told me in no uncertain terms that it quit; nice sharp pain in the mid part. After icing it all weekend, the muscles figured they had punished me enough and stopped their little jihad.

Just to be safe, I gave myself another day off to let the muscles fully forget that I was not nice to them... today was the first day back.

Note to self: Remember the notes to self.

This Time I Am Not A Blond

Yuck!

Unfortunately I appear to be fighting a bug. This one is different than I've had in a long time and apparently it's what is going around these days; my boss had it and now I do.

The weird part is that this one does not have the usual symptoms I am used to. This time, I have no energy, have dizzy spells (not to be confused with ditsy; I am always ditsy), and have a nasty headache. Yesterday, I was so tired and dizzy that I left work early and went home to get some rest. Literally within two minutes of getting in bed, I was asleep.

This morning I felt better but thought it would not be in my best interest to go work out so I skipped that in favor of another hour's sleep. I hope to go back to the gym tomorrow.

According to my boss, around 2 pm today I'll start to feel run down again and in another two days, it'll hit me hard (at least that is what he went through). I am not looking forward to that and hopefully I can stave off the full effects of this one.

Twelve Months and Counting: On The Road to 40

Well, today is the big day. We are now exactly 12 months away from the finish line. In other words, this is the final lap on The Road to 40. Boy do I need to pick up the pace.

I have to say that while I have made some advances in my fitness level, I am still very far away from where I need to be. Grant it, by adding six-pack abs into the mix after I started on this road, I kind of moved the goalpost back a bit. But still, I would like to attain that goal by this summer’s Vancouver, BC trip though. Unfortunately, time’s a wastin’ and I ain’t moving very fast. My cursed muffin top is not going to go away on its own.

I definitely need to “kick it up a notch” with this whole fitness lifestyle. That means I need to get the nutrition under tight control, increase weights in my workouts at the gym, and add back that (in)famous Green Lake run (read “cardio”) that I “started” (and then stopped) late last year.

A struggling Muffin Top’s work is never done. Wish me luck; I need all that I can get.

Good Friends, Good Snow, Good Skiing

Yesterday, some friends and I headed up to Crystal Mountain for fun on the slopes. The four of us were evenly matched into pairs where our skiing capabilities are concerned. Dan and Fred are advanced skiers while Becky (Dan’s girlfriend) and I are beginners.

Dan and Fred helped Becky and I for the first half of the day giving us pointers on the Bunny Slope. Before lunch, we ventured onto the harder runs for awhile until finally giving Dan and Fred their leave so they could enjoy the black diamonds while Becky and I worked on the greens.

What a fun time! We ended up skiing past 4:30 into the night skiing portion of the day. This is the first that I’ve ever night skied and it was pretty cool.

After we wrapped it up for the night, we ended up meeting with some friends of Dan who had an RV parked up there for the weekend. After some beer and good conversation, we finally took our leave and drove back to Seattle.

I enjoyed the trip and want to do it again this season. Sooner or later, I have to get my skill level up and the only way to do that is practice.

Obsession v2.0.3

Hmmm…

I forgot how having new toys makes me obsessive. This whole week I have been up past midnight and every hour at work I have the overwhelming desire to leave and go home to play on the computer.

Yes, the missed workout on Tuesday was because I stayed up late all weekend. However, the missing workout (that will be) tomorrow (Friday) will be due to the fact I have a short business trip that day.

Habitual Personality

This is very strange. I am actually in the “habit” of working out now. Every morning during the week I get up, head to the gym, work out, and then head to the office. Now keep in mind that my workout intensity varies depending upon what state of sleep I am in while at the gym. Nonetheless, every day I get up now.

The strange part is that this morning all I wanted to do was sleep in and catch a later bus. However, I soon found myself on my usual bus headed to the gym. Somewhere along the way my "other" personality had taken over and got my lazy ass prepared and out the door in time.

Cool yet scary at the same time.

Five Days per Week

Believe it or not, this month has been impressive. I have officially gotten my lazy ass out of bed and worked out five days each week for the entire month (minus the first two days of course). I think this is the first time in my entire life that I’ve accomplished such a feat. I hope to continue this into December and then on into next year.

Unfortunately, I have not noticed any difference in my shape or fat content. That damn muffin top seems to have actually gotten bigger.

The running of Green Lake has not been as common as I’d had hoped; this due to the fact that it’s quite cold out there. As a result, I need to figure out the right clothing combination to comfortably run this winter.

Green Lake: Inner Loop

The other day I went out with the camera and grabbed some shots of Green Lake.

Here is a panorama of the lake from the eastern shore.

The cool thing about this place is that there's a lot of eye candy to keep the mind occupied. On those days when people are scarce, I can still enjoy the great views of nature as evident in these images.

For those interested, here's a map showing the route I now take when running around Green Lake.

One final point of interest was this short vid I took of some dude out on the lake (yes it was freezing out and he was in shorts).

Black Friday

Well would you look at that, I actually made it downtown for a workout. I totally forgot about the fact that they were having a Thanksgiving parade today but I managed to not get stuck in the traffic around the parade route.

The workout was pretty good actually; it didn't hurt that there was a very handsome asian man working his chest next to me. Oi!

A little later, I was doing a tricep press facing the lat pull down machine. Guess what... yup, you guessed it, he was on the machine; talk about a nice lat spread! Oi, oi!

All this fitness energy is spilling over into my libido. Must, find, boyfriend.

Thanksgiving Run

Woot! I got my ass out of bed and down to the lake for a run. Once again I made it all the way around without stopping. It looks like I'm running a ten minute mile right now since it took me about 28 minutes to finish the loop (hey, give me a break, it's only my second time running in over six years).

Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much or you'll just have to spend that much more time in the gym.